How to Make Pixel Art Dolls

Choose your painting program., , Get yourself a base that you'll like to use for your doll., , Get a palette that you'll use to make the shading., Get started with the hair., Fill in the rest of the hair with the third-darkest shade of the hair...

11 Steps 2 min read Medium

Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Step 1: Choose your painting program.

    Examples include MS Paint, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and many others.

    For this tutorial we'll be using MS Paint, as it's installed on every Windows computer.
  2. Step 2: Get yourself a base that you'll like to use for your doll.

    , A base is a nude body, usually a person on which you'll draw clothes, shoes, hair, etc.

    A lot of dollars (people who make pixel dolls) offer these on their website, other great places to find them are Pixistar (http://pixistar.com) and DeviantArt (http://deviantArt.com).

    When you have the base, load it in your graphics editing program of choice. ,, A palette is a range of colors, dark to light, to create a sense of 3D and shading.

    Again, you can usually find these on doller's websites.

    Or you can make your own by taking five or six samples of different shades of the colors you'll be using. , Use the darkest shade of the hair color to make the outline of it.

    Start with an easy hairstyle, or find an example of one on the web.

    If you mess up, you can undo by pressing Ctrl+Z. , This will be your base, and the rest of the colors will later be used for shading. , Once you feel you've had enough of it, select the third-lightest shade and add in streaks of that as well.

    You don't need to have very many of these.

    Now, draw a halo-like circle over the hair with the second-lightest shade, and add in tiny bits of the lightest one into it.

    This is the light reflecting off the hair. , Again, start with something simple, or go online to browse for ideas., If they look too bland and boring, add in designs
    - stripes, bubbles, flowers, words,
    - make it original!
  3. Step 3: Get a palette that you'll use to make the shading.

  4. Step 4: Get started with the hair.

  5. Step 5: Fill in the rest of the hair with the third-darkest shade of the hair color from your palette.

  6. Step 6: Select the second-darkest shade of hair color from your palette

  7. Step 7: and add in streaks of it where you see fit.

  8. Step 8: Zoom out and repeat these steps on the rest of the clothing - find the darkest shade of each color

  9. Step 9: and use it to draw the outlines of the skirt

  10. Step 10: t-shirt and shoes.

  11. Step 11: Color in the clothes and shade where you see fit.

Detailed Guide

Examples include MS Paint, Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, and many others.

For this tutorial we'll be using MS Paint, as it's installed on every Windows computer.

, A base is a nude body, usually a person on which you'll draw clothes, shoes, hair, etc.

A lot of dollars (people who make pixel dolls) offer these on their website, other great places to find them are Pixistar (http://pixistar.com) and DeviantArt (http://deviantArt.com).

When you have the base, load it in your graphics editing program of choice. ,, A palette is a range of colors, dark to light, to create a sense of 3D and shading.

Again, you can usually find these on doller's websites.

Or you can make your own by taking five or six samples of different shades of the colors you'll be using. , Use the darkest shade of the hair color to make the outline of it.

Start with an easy hairstyle, or find an example of one on the web.

If you mess up, you can undo by pressing Ctrl+Z. , This will be your base, and the rest of the colors will later be used for shading. , Once you feel you've had enough of it, select the third-lightest shade and add in streaks of that as well.

You don't need to have very many of these.

Now, draw a halo-like circle over the hair with the second-lightest shade, and add in tiny bits of the lightest one into it.

This is the light reflecting off the hair. , Again, start with something simple, or go online to browse for ideas., If they look too bland and boring, add in designs
- stripes, bubbles, flowers, words,
- make it original!

About the Author

C

Cheryl Jimenez

Enthusiastic about teaching crafts techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.

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